A Voice in the Night

1 Samuel 3
Samuel was introduced to his prophetic office very early, and in a very remarkable manner.
It seems that old Eli attached him to his person, to render such little services to him as his
condition rendered necessary, for from extreme age, his eyes began to wax dim, that he could
not see. For this reason, apparently, it was that the lad slept at night within call of the high-
priest, retiring to his own rest after the old man had lain down, and all his little duties had been
performed. It would appear from the tone of the statement, that these circumstances took place
within the enclosure of the tabernacle. This is not, indeed, distinctly stated; and the mention of
the time of the tabernacle lamps going out, may merely be a mark of time. We know that later,
under the temple, there were tenements within the enclosure for the priests and the Levites on
duty. But this was for the accommodation of those who performed their duties in rotation, and
came for that purpose to the temple, generally leaving their families at home. But under the
tabernacle, the priests at least were not so numerous as to allow of this arrangement, and they
seem to have been all in attendance at the place of the tabernacle with their households. This,
therefore, scarcely consisted with residence inside the enclosurewhere the constructions could
hardly have been of the permanent nature required for constant habitation. We therefore
suppose that the priests lived in the town, repairing to the tabernacle when the discharge of their
duties required. But the Levites, who must have been too numerous to be all in attendance at
once, and who, indeed, as we know, dwelt in dispersed towns of their own, might remain in
lodges in or about the tabernacle enclosure during their term of service. While engaged in the
discharge of a temporary service, men can and do dispense with the accommodations and
domestic conveniences, which are needful in their permanent abodes. Nor was the arrangement
materially different in the temple, the accommodations being for those separate from their
families, on temporary service, and not for such domestic establishments as they all possessed in
their proper homes. Even the high-priest was not in constant residence, that is, not in domestic
residence, at the templemuch less, therefore, at the tabernacle. In the time of our Lord it is
distinctly stated, that the high-priest had his residence in the city. To compare modern things
with ancient, and political with ecclesiastical office, it was the same with the high-priests as with
our chief ministers of state, who have their official residence in Downing Street, but have their
private and domestic abodes elsewhere. Yet it has happened that a minister without family (as
was the case with Pitt) might reside altogether in Downing Street; and so might a high-priest at
the temple; and thus Eli, who was now an aged man, apparently a widower, with all his family
grown up and settled in their own households, might, both from feeling and convenience, incline
to reside constantly at his humble official lodge, under the shadow of the tabernacle. The proper
place of Samuel at right would have been among the attendant Levites; but on account of his
personal services to the aged high-priest, he rested not far from him. And that Eli was in the
habit of requiring his services during the night, appears from the readiness of the lad in
concluding that the voice which called him one night by name, was that of Eli.
It has been thought by some that Samuel had some charge about the lamps of the tabernacle, for
it is said, Ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was,
and Samuel was laid down to sleep. But this attendance on the lamps, was a higher Levitical
office than was likely to devolve upon a lad; and it appears to have been a mode of marking time
merely, which had grown into use at the tabernacle. The lamp is, of course, the golden
candlestick with its seven lamps. These were lighted every evening, and they burned until the
morning, by which time some of them at least usually went out, and if any remained burning
they were put out by the Levites, when they came in the morning to attend to them. The Jewish
writers indeed affirm that one of the lampsthe western onewas always kept burning day and
night, being so well filled as to burn until the morning, and being then replenished instead of
extinguished.
It was, then, in the dead of night, towards morning, but before any of the lamps had gone out,
that the slumbers of the young Samuel were broken by a voice which pronounced his name.
With prompt attention the lad started from his couch, and hastened to the bedside of his aged
lord, who, he supposed, had called him. This he repeated three times, for so often was he called,
and each time supposed that Eli called him. The strangeness of this, at length, led the high-
priest to see something more than human in the circumstance; and he directed the boy to go and
lie down once more, and if again called, not to come to him, but say, Speak, Lord, for thy
servant heareth! Samuel did as he was directed, and the Divine voice then declared the terrible
judgments which should speedily fall upon Eli and upon his house. Upon his sons because they
had made themselves vile and upon him because he restrained them not.
As this is the first circumstance which throws light upon the character of one who was destined
to become a great man in Israel, it behooves us to regard it well. Most lads of his age evince
much eagerness in communicating anything surprising, without much regard to the pain it may
be calculated to inflict. Samuel knew that he had been highly honored by a special
communication from God; and he must have been too well instructed not to be aware of the
extraordinary and important character of the distinction thus conferred upon him. Yet his young
heart was not elated, nor was his tongue impatient to proclaim this honor which had come to
him from God. The burden of a great doom had been imparted to him, and such secrets of high
import it is hard for youth to bear undisclosed. But with Samuel there was one consideration
that overruled every other. The secret concerned his venerable lord, who had been as a father to
him, and could not fail to afflict his spirit. Therefore, with a pious and generous discretion, far
beyond his years, and altogether worthy of manhood, he purposed to keep it all to himself. He
lay quiet until the morning, and on arising from his rest, he proceeded about his ordinary
business, as if nothing remarkable had happened.
Nevertheless, Eli himself perceiving that he had risen, and that he had not come to him as usual,
suspected that something had transpired which he was afraid to communicate. He therefore
called him, and solemnly charged him to hide nothing from him. Thus adjured, Samuel was
constrained to make known all that had passed. And when Eli heard that dreadful sentence,
every word of which must have fallen like molten lead upon his heart, the poor old man, so small
in active daring, but so great in passive suffering, broke forth into no vain lamentations or
complaints. It is the Lord, he said, let him do what seemeth him good! for, as Bishop Hall
well paraphrases, whatever seemeth good to him cannot but be good, howsoever it seems to be.
Every man, he adds, can open his hand to God while he blesses; but to expose ourselves
willingly to the afflicting hand of our Maker, and to kneel to him while he scourges us, is peculiar
only to the faithful. This is a charitable judgment, and it commends itself to our esteem, much
better than the austere censures of those who accuse Eli of hypocrisy, because he took no means
to correct the evil by which this doom had been brought down. But this is a harsh judgment. He
was old and dim-sighted now, and little suited for a task of paternal correction and theocratic
reform, from which he had unhappily shrunk in the days of his strength and vigor. He found it
easier to leave the matter in the Lords hands, whether for judgment or for mercy. It was for
judgmentfor the Lords justice required to be satisfied, and the honor of his institutions
vindicated.